Last Race of 2013 and a #RaceRagz Giveaway!

Winter running can be a bit of the pain in the butt for me. Does anyone else out there feel that way? First, winter races (of any distance) are few and hard to come by. This makes goal-setting a little difficult for me since those races are a great source of motivation for me. Second, it’s really stinking cold most days! How do you get over that slump?!

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Max and I ran the Huff And Puff For Your Pumpkin Pie 5k and it was our last race for the year. This is the second year we have run this race and have love it every time. They DOUBLED in size this year and eve offered a packet pick up day! It’s put together by one of my favorite running groups – Seashore Striders. They are very professional, chip time all of their races, have great course support, and give out medals to the top finishers in all of their races. They make every race fun!

Max was the true rock-star of this race. Let me brag about my husband for a minute because he is one of my biggest inspirations in my running journey. He finished in 22:23.8 and finished 4th in his age group (20-24). he shaved over a minute off of his time from last year and would have had an even fast time had he not started in the back of the pack with me! There’s always next time 🙂 bring home the gold! The best part about running races with Max (he finishes WAY ahead of me) is that he gets to see how much he has improved. The man behind him took 1st place for the masters category and found Max after the race to let him know that he tried to keep up with him to pace him the entire race and that he had great running form. The man is a veteran multi-marathoner and knew his stuff so his comments were greatly appreciated. Max went through quite the weight loss transformation while we were in college and has become a very talented running – and it makes me so proud to see him excel!

My goal was to finish in 30 minutes and I did! I always say that I am a proud slow runner, but I always tell Max that I feel like racing gives me an opportunity to help other runners. At the back half of the pack you don’t get the runners who are breezing along at a 7 min/mile pace. You run the run-walk-run gang busting it out with bigger hearts than lions!

I stuck to my 2:1 run-walk-run ration and knew where that will put me and that I would finish strong and not dying (or injured). For the first mile a high schooler and I kept pacing each other (that awkward continual passing) so I finally turned to her at the 1 mile marker and asked if she waned to run together. She was on board with the Run-Walk-Run method as her parents were using the same method to train for their Disney marathon. They were closer to a 5:1 ration! We talked the whole way, realized we both lived in DC and were visiting family for the weekend, and she told me all about here injury-filled cross country season this year. Just as we passed the mile 2 marker, we caught up with young girl who was home for college. She had stopped and was hunched over with a stitch. After stopping to check on her, I asked if she wanted to run with us and told her we were doing a 2:1 moderately slow pace and that there was less than a mile left. She was happy to have people to run with and we encouraged her along the way (side stitches suck!). We saw the clock ticking at the 30 minute mark and sprinted across the finish line together where Max was waiting with his camera!

Race Ragz was kind enough to hook me up with my own customized shirt for for my final race of 2013 – and now it is your turn to win your own! It’s easy-peasy and you can pick a shirt form their pre-made collection or build your own. I built my own using their customization tool and added some of their pre-made designs. The entire process took about 5 minutes and my shirt was in my mailbox a week later!

So how do you win one of your own? EASY! Leave your first name and twitter handle (or a username of your choice) a in a comment below! I will be entering the names into a generator on NEW YEARS DAY and will notify the winner on this blog, twitter, and through their comment – so keep an eye out! BE SURE TO CHECK THE “notify me of new comments/replies” BUTTON SO THAT YOU CAN BE NOTIFIED IF YOU WIN!

I have a love hate relationship with Winter running.
On one side, I absolutely hate the cold. On the other, I tend to run faster therefore, I have much better run times. We have plenty of races in here in NYC/Long Island in the Winter, so I guess I’m lucky that way. My last race of 2013 in on NYE actually – a 5K through Prospect Park with ends around midnight to be followed by fireworks. Should be a blast!

Thanks for entering! I’ll be posting the winner on Jan 1st! You are very lucky to have so many winter races! I need to do some digging to find more. We have a couple 5k’s around NYE but it kind of drops off again until March. But you are right, times are better!

Published by findingmystrong

Welcome to me site! My name is Laura and this is my journey to find "strong" (whatever that means to me). Add a little swim, a little bike, a little run and we will navigate this journey of health, workouts, and recovery together. Enjoy!
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